Obviously events in the Affordable Care Act area are breaking fairly quickly.  As you may or may not be aware, the Administration has asked the insurance companies to provide insurance for those individuals who pay for their insurance coverage by January 10^th.  It is my understanding that certain carriers are willing to accept the January 10^th date.  Others are setting their own dates.  The Administration has requested that insurers provide for the insurance policy that the individual has purchased to be effective on January 1, assuming they make the payment by January 10^th or whatever deadline is set by the insurance company.

This creates problems for the providers.

1. What happens in those circumstances where care is rendered between the 1^st of January and the 10^th of January and the premium is not paid?  Who bears the risk in this?  Obviously, the patient would then owe the provider for the care, but if the patient never pays the premium, it will put the burden on the provider to chase the patient to get paid for the care rendered.
2. Even assuming the patient makes the payment of the insurance premium, is the provider in the network of the insurance policy that has been purchased by the patient?  If not, will the insurance company make the payment to the provider, and if so, what amount will the payment be?  Additionally, will the individual’s policy deductible require the insured to make payment, even if the insurance policy is in effect or comes into effect as of January 10^th, since the amount of the medical bills up to that point in time would more than likely be below the deductible?

All of these attempted Band-Aids used to move the deadlines for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act will impose burdens upon the providers who provide care during the first half of January 2014.